Polo Fields and Children's Fantasy Dreams
by elfin-babylon
Summary: Lauren gets dropped on Companion's field one day before Vanyel arrives at Haven. Meets Tylendel and becomes part of the scenery, taking her view on events in the series. Probably will never be finished.
1. Herald? Whassat?

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in the Valdemar world, the character's associated with it, or anything else except Lauren.

Chapter 1

Oooff. That hurt. Lauren was staring up at a clear blue sky. Well, that wasn't too abnormal. Nor were the bright lights dancing across her vision, considering that really bright light she saw, prior to landing flat on her back. Now, what she really wanted to know was why she was lying flat on her back. Unless that burly man-chick had actually succeeded in tackling her, though everyone knew that you don't tackle people in soccer. For that matter, no one tackled a goalie anyway. Lauren groaned, then wondered; had that man-chick tackled her, why weren't Lauren's teammates crowded around her? She closed her eyes, hoping they were there and she was just too dense to notice. She opened them. Still no teammates.

Lauren sat up and looked around and then looked around again. She was in the middle of a field. Not surprising (soccer did take place in a field), but not a field roughly size of Lake Eerie. And not lined with groves of trees obviously not transplanted from the mountains to good old suburbia. Soccer fields were also not covered in white horses. Polo fields maybe, but not soccer fields. Where the heck am I? She rubbed her head. Am I stuck in some kind of child's fantasy of rainbows and ponies? Lauren sure hoped not. She half expected to see the Keebler elves or a fairy or a My Little Pony come prancing up to her.

What did come toward her was not an elf, nor was it prancing. It was one of those white horses that populated the field like children in a candy shop. It was a white, blue-eyed, horse. It stopped directly in front of her. It's, no his (that was definitely a stallion) head was canted to one side regarding her with those odd blue eyes. Now, Lauren had always thought that horses were sort of stupid, but this one was staring at her with unsettlingly intelligent eyes. It was starting to give her the willies. The horse seemed to sense this and made an odd chuckling noise, nudging her shoulder with his nose.

"What?" She asked, scooting back. The stallion shook his head and moved closer, nudging her again. Freaky horse.

_:No, not a horse. A Companion. I am not 'freaky'. I am merely concerned with your_ _well-being. Are you hurt?:_ The voice inside her head was gentle and questioning, and a little humorous.

Lauren stared at the Companion, no it was a horse, hang it all! She should really stop hanging out with Eric and his gang, their weird fantasy stuff was starting to mess with her head. A talking horse? Honestly! She was definitely spending too much time with Eric. Her brain probably looked like cottage cheese by now. She rubbed her eyes, hoping this cracked out child's fantasy would just go poof. The horse nudged her harder this time.

:_No you are not dreaming. I am real. You, while being oddly dressed, should know of Companions. Whether that knowledge is good or bad, I cannot say. Ah, where are my manners? My name is Arvlen. What is yours?:_

"Lauren McCarthy." Lauren was startled into an answer. The minute she said it, looking at the Companion the eyes, she fell into them. Fell into a well of love and affection.

:_Oh, well, can't say as I didn't see that coming. You are my Chosen, Lauren. You will now become a Herald. And Chosen, you are loved, please believe in us.: _The voice_, _Arvlen 's voice, reverberated in her mind, aglow with love. The two of them sat there for a moment, each as stunned as the other. After those moments had passed, Lauren (while not entirely comfortable with this new development) accepted the reality of it. It was really quite disconcerting, but with Arvlen there, it didn't seem too bad. However, it was still going to take some serious adjusting for all parties involved.

Lauren looked up at her Companion, studying him. He was shorter in the barrel than most horses she'd seen, and was stocky everywhere else. He reminded her of a muscular rugby player. She chuckled, deciding that if this place she was in didn't have soccer, she'd just have to introduce the sport to them.

:_What_ _is amusing to you?:_

"Oh, nothing. Now what's with this Chosen business, huh?" She tapped his nose. He snuffled at her.

:_When one is chosen, one becomes a Herald. A Herald is a servant of the people, of Valdemar. You serve the Monarch, and all Gifts that you have will aid you in doing so.:_

"Ok, so what are my Gifts? Can I see through walls, or have abs of steel?" she asked, thinking of Superman and old Batman comics.

_:Neither of those have I ever heard of anyone possessing. There are, however, Mage gifts, Fetching, Firestarting, Mindspeech, FarSight, ForeSight, and Empathy. You have a minimal empathy gift, a quite powerful mage gift and FarSight. Most Heralds have one or two gifts, but I suppose that you have two and a half as your empathy gift is very small.:_

"Huh. So, this mage gift thing, what can I do with it? I mean, I've heard Eric ramble on about Gandalf and stuff, but what is it?" She was very much out of her depth; she figured Eric would feel better. Heck, they'd probably be chatting Arvlen up, going off on tangents about the Lord of the Rings and all that fantasy stuff.

_:I think that best for Savil to explain, Chosen. I cannot explain it in words you could understand. Come mount up onto my back; HeraldMage Savil is in the stables. You do know how to stay on a horse, do you not?:_

Lauren nodded, got up and brushed her legs off of any grass and hopped onto Arvlen's back. He made that chuckling noise, twisted his head back and made a reassuring nudge to her knee. She patted his nose, then grabbed onto his mane for support as he settled into a surprisingly smooth and gentle trot. She was glad he wasn't any faster, as she was wearing shorts, and if she remembered correctly, you weren't supposed to wear shorts. Something about sores or rashes or 

something to that effect. Lauren had taken riding lessons when she was about 12 and after a year had decided that soccer was more interesting, and quit. Now she kinda wished she hadn't.

:_Do not worry, Chosen. I will not let you fall. Besides: _His mind-voice laughed :_that would reflect poorly on my part. It would not do well for me to let my new-found Chosen to fall ingloriously on her first ride. Through Companions field.:_

"I suppose not." She looked around the field and ahead, where a bunch of big buildings were."Hey, what're those? They're kinda cool, all super-retro."

_:Those_ _are the Collegium, Bardic, Healer, and Heraldic. The Palace is right there. The salle, where we are going, is that way.:_ Images accompanied the words in her mind.

"What the heck's a salle?"

:_It is an indoor weapons work place. You wil see it when we get there, which is soon.: _He twisted his head about and nudged her knee again. :_You may speak to me mind to mind. It is not hard.:_

She felt a presence in her mind, showing her what to do. She nodded and grinned.

:_Cool. This is really neat.:_

_:It is not cool outside. It's actually warm.:_ Arvlen sounded confused. Lauren laughed. So weird, that her slang, so commonplace in California, wouldn't be understood here.

:_It's slang for neat, or interesting. It's used by the teen-agers of my country.:_

_:Oh. Well, we're here.:_

Lauren looked at the stables. Well, they were normal, barring the loose horses around. Wait, Companions. Who were responsible enough to handle themselves properly, she supposed. She got off Arvlin's back and stood by the entrance, a tad nervously. She'd never really liked meeting people she didn't even know. Let alone some one that came from a whole other planet! She chewed her lower lip, and walked inside...


	2. Meetings in a Renassaince food court

(Disclaimer: I do not own the world of Valdemar, the characters associated with it, or anything else from that series.)

Lauren stepped inside the stables and was met with a stern visage. She figured this was Savil. Herald-Mage. Whatever. She did have to admit that the lady did make her shiver a little. Savil reminded her of a female version of He-Man: strong and willful and a little scary. Only Lauren doubted that Savil had ever heard of He-Man, let alone She-Ra. She could hear Arvlen wondering in the back of her mind about He-Man and She-Ra. She wondered herself how she could explain the concept of Saturday morning cartoons to him. She wasn't given the opportunity to think too much on it, for Savil interrupted her mental train of thought.

"So, you are Lauren, the new Trainee?" At her nod, Savil continued, "You are to be trained here now, understand? While here in Haven you will wear Trainee Grays, not these barbaric things. You will attend the normal classes that the Trainees take. Do you know how to read and write?" Lauren started to nod then realized she might not be able to read and write _their_ language.

:_Uh... Arvlen? I don't really know if I can read this language or not. What am I supposed to do?:_

_:Answer with the truth: that you are from a different country. If you really can read and write Valdemaran, then you have no need to worry. Savil would understand, I think. Trust her, Chosen, she knows what she's doing.: _Lauren sighed at this, but cleared her throat and replied as honestly as she could.

"I'm not from around here, so I'm not sure I can read Valdemaran or not. I can read and write English, but I'm not sure if it's the same thing as Valdemaran." Savil knotted her eyebrows, and then seemed to be speaking with her Companion nodding slightly. She pulled out a folded letter.

"Here, tell me if you can read this." Lauren nodded and opened the letter, which had the name of Lord Withen, whoever the heck that was, on it. She found she actually could read the outdated parchment letter. But, out of some strange regard for this Savil's privacy, she read no further than was necessary. It just seemed wrong to pry into her life. As she handed the letter back she wondered if she was stuck in some freakish wannabe Renaissance England land. C'mon, parchment?

"I can read it. I guess I know more than I thought I did."

"That's much the case. But, Kellan tells me you have the Mage-Gift. That means you need a mentor..." She paused for a moment, "Either Herald-Mage Jaysen or me. Let me check the strength of your gift, just relax and look into my eyes." Lauren felt an odd tickling sensation, but otherwise she didn't notice much of whatever it was that Savil was doing to her head. Mind. Whatever. Thoughts of Vulcan mind-melds flitted through her head, bringing with it visions of pompous Shatner and "boldly going where no one has gone before." She mentally giggled.

"Well, you're powerful all right, but in the extreme, and I'm losing my extra room to my nephew, so I think I shall hand you over to Jaysen. Follow me, please." Savil nodded towards the door and strode over to it, Lauren in her wake.

After meeting with Herald-Mage Jaysen, Lauren was brought to the Dean of the Collegium. There she told him the basics of her situation, how much she knew, etc. By the end she was starting to feel like she was being put through the Spanish Inquisition. Then she heard a bell which apparently was the dinner bell, but before she could eat, she had to change her clothes. It wasn't too odd that they didn't approve of her shorts and soccer cleats. After all, _she_ didn't like the things too much either. She was only too happy to change into the weird grey tunic thing and pants. They also gave her Robin Hood-esque boots. She looked in the long mirror in the weird communal bath (_got to get used to that..._) and saw that she looked like she'd ran down a RenFaire minstrel and stolen his clothes, sans the poet's shirt. _Ah, well, could be worse. I could be stuck in a cheerleading uniform._

:_Cheerleaders? What's that?: _Arvlen asked curiously. Lauren grinned, and wondered how to explain to him the vilest of beings to ever grace the campus of any high school.

:_Well, they're teenage girls who think they rule the world, but don't. They're just really annoying girls. Their sole purpose in life is to get into the male sports teams pants, after cheering them on at a game.:_

_:Oh, that's interesting. You can go to the dining hall now. Do not be nervous, the Trainees are very friendly. Come, I shall show you the way.: _Again, that weird tickly feeling, vaguely resembling someone lightly touching your feet; then she knew where to go.

:_Thanks.:_

_:You're welcome. What is a He-Man and a She-Ra? Are they heroes in your land?: _Arvlen was curious as a kid presented with a huge wrapped present. It was almost annoying, but somehow endearing at the same time.

:_No, they aren't heroes. They are characters in a fictitious story. Save the world and all that. I used to have to watch it in the mornings with my brother. It was really stupid, I didn't really like it.:_

_:Watch? I thought you said they were from a story. You cannot watch a book. Or do you do that in your country?: _Lauren turned a corner, and pondered how to explain the basic gist of television.

:_Well, it's like a... a play of sorts. Only it's in a box, that you turn on.:_

_:Like a puppet show? I love puppet shows... they're so ingenious.: _Arvlen said. Lauren sighed. It would have to do for know.

_:Yeah, like a puppet show.: _

She opened a big door, and found herself in a large room full of benches, tables, people, and most importantly, food. Lauren walked towards a bench with an empty seat and friendly faces. She politely asked the blonde guy if anyone was sitting there and was cheerfully told no.

"So, you're new?" She nodded at the guys query. He grinned, "I'm Tylendel."

"Lauren. I've never been in this country before, is it nice? Good government?" She might as well ask a native, and this Tylendel seemed nice. So she sat there and listened to his description of Valdemar, eating food she wasn't used too. He had a humorous streak that reminded her of her friend Eric. She got a little homesick then, but at that point Tylendel had reached a question of what her gifts were and then that started a whole long discussion on magic and she had to admit, she was kinda excited about it. It might have just been Tylendel's infectious attitude, or maybe her brain really had turned to cottage cheese and she was slowing losing her mind.


	3. Hack and Bashers

(Disclaimer: Anything associated with the Valdemar series is the intellectual property of Mercedes Lackey.)

Lauren sat on the big sofa in Herald-Mage Savil's suite, where Tylendel and two other Trainees lived. She and Lendel where currently amusing themselves with her deck of cards (she was winning, finally. Lendel had an uncanny ability to win at cards). Luckily, she had them and an extra bra and her CD player, thanks to her gym bag which had mysteriously appeared the other night. It had freaked out the Companions because according to Arvlen, the bag had hurtled out of nowhere, plummeting towards their heads with a vengeance no inanimate object should possess. She highly doubted that, but whatever. Her Companion was known to exaggerate stories. Her gym bag was now safely stowed away in her room in Jaysen's suite, where she now lived. She had tried her CD player, but was disappointed that it was out of batteries and of course, she didn't have extra batteries. There was no way for her to ever get batteries here, since Valdemar was a RenFaire on steroids. They didn't have anything remotely resembling plugs, or sockets, or electricity. Nor, she found out, did they have much in the way of indoor plumbing: their bathrooms were called privies. She wasn't sure she liked them.

"You win, Lauren. Again." Lendel grinned, and she grinned back. Actually, she'd only won three out of seven games, so technically he was winning.

"Well, you're ahead of me anyway. So, one more game?" She asked, already shuffling the cards. He motioned grandly at her and she thumbed her nose at him. They played the last game (he won). She excused herself, and ran off to weapons practice. She had to remember to go back to her rooms and get that belt she owed Lendel, since he beat her. Who knew that someone who'd never even played Blackjack could be so very good at it? It wasn't fair, however he did it.

When she got to the salle she was told by the weapons master to stretch and grab a practice sword. She was learning sword work with about seven other kids of her general build and height. It was an advanced class, as she seemed to pick up weapons work better than the average joe. Apparently these Valdemarans believed in skill-based classes, unlike the school districts back home where they didn't have advanced classes because (for some retarded reason) they thought it would be discriminatory to the other kids not in the classes. She'd always thought that was stupid. Lauren liked it this way as she, though preferring the fencing style, got to learn the 'hack-and-bash' style. After seeing the body-type that used the hack bash routine, they looked like renegade He-Mans. Only none of them wore loincloths and only one was blond. She didn't particularly like learning this style, but she had the medium build that could handle just about any sword work. Or so she was old. She was still trying to adjust to this crazy Renaissance Faire world.

Everyone arrived within a relatively short time. The weapons master called out that they would be working in pairs to today. Lauren and another Trainee, a black haired guy named Aegam, paired off and had at it. About an hour, or candlemark as these guys said it, they were told to cool off and the Trainees where all talking about Valdemaran novels. It was just this side of difficult, as she'd never read any of the books, and these guys had never read any American ones. She kept trying to tell herself it was like being in a foreign exchange program in a really, really foreign country. It made it easier to believe that her brain really wasn't starting to resemble cottage cheese, which was becoming a real fear. She even had nightmares about it.

"I like action. I gotta have action. No horror, y'know? None of that 'ee ee ee ee' stuff." She held her hand out and pretended she was holding a dagger and stabbing someone in the back. The Trainees who saw her laughed and she grinned. Well, at least these weird Valdemarans get humor. Lauren was very glad they weren't a whole country of sticks-up-their-butts. That would have totally sucked.

"Ugh, I need a bath! I'm smelly. I'm off!" She grinned and left, heading towards the bathroom. These freaky Renaissance people hadn't invented showers yet and Lauren was very annoyed. The only time she'd ever really taken baths, where bubble baths, and these psychos hadn't invented that either.

She neared the baths and opened the door; thankfully no one was in there because in addition to no showers, there were no separate stalls. She thought that was weird, but they did have curtains, thank goodness. She opened one such curtain, and turned on the water. While waiting for the tub to fill, she hummed. It was one of her favorites, Unbelievable by EMF, and she'd always sung it in the shower. Well, that and Aerosmith and various other bands. When the tub was almost filled she was in her underwear and singing to herself, complete with instrumentals.

"You burden me with your questions; you'd have me tell no lies. You're always asking what it's all about, but don't listen to my replies..." She got louder as the tub filled higher, and by the time it was almost full she was at full gusty volume, dancing about the tub, strumming an air guitar. Totally absorbed in her "performance" she didn't notice that two other girls had walked in. She heard them when one of them let out a squeak. Whether that squeak was one of laughter, surprise, or mortification, she couldn't tell. Well, she'd be mortified, too, if she'd walked in on a girl in her underwear dancing about like a buffoon.

She turned around, towels in hand. She'd just got to the second 'you're unbelievable' chorus. The look on her face was probably a mix of embarrassment and disappointment. The two girls, both tall, where staring at her with (as she had suspected) surprise, amusement, and mortification. Lauren thought they looked liked they need an explanation. She had always been good at thinking on her feet and possessed the constant need to mess with people's heads; she decided to give them the best explanation they'd ever get.

"It's a heathen ritual from my country. It's meant to keep evil spirits from impregnating women who bathe in the water. The illegitimate child would be born grotesque and evil, with eight horns and viscous liquid oozing out of both ends. The child then grows and falls in the nearest lake, to turn into an evil water spirit, and the cycle repeats." She tilted her head to the side as if pondering something, "But I don't suppose you have them here, so no need to worry, eh?"

The girls stared at her and suddenly left the room. Lauren savored the looks on their faces with uncharitable glee. It was one of the highlights of her week. She sighed contentedly and hopped into her now full tub. All this week had been very interesting for Lauren. She'd learned that she didn't have to take any form of math, as she knew more than the average Valdemaran Herald. Valdemarans where a lot like Americans in quite a few ways, she'd noticed: they were mongrels, and didn't have one religion. She found that she kind of liked here, even if they hadn't invented T.V. yet. Or indoor plumbing for that matter.

She got done with her bath and went down to her quarters to grab that belt she owed Lendel. It was in her gym bag under her bed, just for safe keeping, since these backward people hadn't invented zippers yet either. She had bought it a few days ago, when Lendel, Mardic, Donni and she'd gone into town with Savil. It was a leather belt with oddly weird designs on it. She couldn't imagine why Lendel wanted it so bad, but she didn't care. She hadn't bought it for herself; it had just been an impulse buy. She had no emotional attachment to it, so giving it to Lendel wasn't going to tear a whole in her heart.

She grabbed it out of her bag and walked down the hall to where Savil's suite was. She saw Lendel, Mardic and Donni standing outside of the door. Lauren wondered what was going on. Why the heck were they all standing outside? She couldn't figure it out. Not that that was anything new, she was kind of dense and easily confused sometimes.

_:Sometimes, Chosen?:_ Arvlen asked. She'd since found out that her Companion was a giant, horrible tease.

_:Oh, shut up Peanut Gallery.:_ She thought back at him. He chuckled mentally. Lauren walked down the hall towards where Lendel and friends where just about to walk into the suite.

_:Uhm, Lendel? What's going on?:_

_:Savils nephew just arrived.:_


	4. Pickup Lines

**A/N: Sorry this chapter took, what, 3 years to post? To tell the truth, I forgot about this little corner of the internet. ; So, thanks to the recent reviewers I've gotten my butt back into gear. Hopefully this chapter will be a little better and not as typo ridden as the first three. And I apologize for the length, I'm a very busy music-major with hardly a moment to think, let alone write. **

And, as we now, I don't own most of the ideas here, I merely play with them.

Chapter Four and a half

:Savil's nephew has just arrived:

Lauren vaguely remembered Savil's nephew (Vanhil? Vane? Van Halen?) Being mentioned a few times, but never with a good tone. It seems that 'Lendel handn't gotten the memo, as the tone of his mind speech was anything but ill-wishing. Interesting. Lauren had always had a sneaking suspicion that 'Lendel was gay, but had never had any ironclad proof.

:Gay? Happy? Of course he is happy.: Arvlen interupted.

:Yes, he is. But in my country, we call guys who _like_ guys gay.: Lauren replied. Explaining slang was becoming an automatic reaction, as her speech was riddled with it.

:Ah: Arvlen said.

Lauren put the language crossing out of her mind and tried to catch a glimpse of this nephew. She barely saw him before 'Lendel gave her a mind nudge which told her this would be embarrasing if she stayed. Lauren nodded lightly and left the doorway, belt still in hand. Bets could be settled after new housemates and family drama where resolved.

As she walked down the hallway, she thought of the brief glance she'd caught of the nephew. All she'd seen was a flash of pale skin, gorgeous eyes, and dark hair. She'd always falled for the tall, dark and handsome types, but she had a feeling this one would be off limits. For one thing, he was Savil's purportedly delinquent nephew and for another he looked a mite too prissy to be straight. Pity, she thought. She could use a bit of non-gay, unmarried/bonded manflesh to do some after school study sessions with. From what she gathered, Valdemaran teens where just as randy as American teens. She'd seen a slew of young bardic students wooing their objects of love and quite a few Herald pairing off at the occaisonal party. Though she'd never heard a single pick up line. She decided that she'd have to introduce them. Lucky for her, as she was making her way to the Companion's field, she passed a fellow Herald trainee.

"How you doin'?" Lauren asked suggestively, looking the trainee up and down. The trainee looked confused for a moment, then shook his head and kept walking. Lauren chortled. I'm definitely going to have to inject some culture into these people, she thought.

She was still chortling when she went for a ride with Arvlen. He asked what was funny, but despite her best efforts, she could not explain it to him. I guess you'd just have to watch Friends to get it, she thought. Ah, pop culture, we are your slaves.


End file.
